Plants 15-50 cm tall. Stem erect, light green, firm, obscurely ribbed, covered with ramified hairs when young, branched from base; lowest branches often opposite or whorled, spreading; upper branches opposite, obliquely spreading. Leaves sessile, lanceolate to linear, 1.3-7 cm × 1-10 mm, base attenuate, apex acute; longitudinal veins 3-9, prominent. Spikes axillary, sessile, dense, ovoid or ellipsoid; bracts broadly ovate, reflexed in fruit, abaxially hairy, apex abruptly acute, mucronate. Perianth segments 1-3, membranous. Stamens 2 or 3; filaments subulate, pellucid; anthers ovoid. Utricle ovoid or ellipsoid, compressed, slightly convex abaxially, hairy when young, slightly wing-margined distally; beak parted into 2 slightly recurved, linear, compressed beaks, each usually with a subapical, small, flattened tooth. Seed subglobose, glabrous, sometimes speckled with light brown. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.
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An annual herb. It grows 15-60 cm high. It has long roots. The stems are erect and light green. The branches are covered with branched hairs. The leaves do not have leaf stalks. The leaves are narrowly sword shaped and 2-8 cm long by 4-10 mm wide. There is a spine at the tip. The flowers are small and in spikes in the axils of leaves. They are in spiny and hairy groups. The fruit are crowded in a head. The seeds is like millet. It is 1-5 mm across.
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